Outdoor dogs and flies

[muttmeister]

difficult child#2 has a Rottweiler who is a great dog but he has to stay outside because he pees on EVERYTHING. One day he even lifted his leg and did his duty on difficult child.
The problem is that every summer he gets flies on his ears and they get sore and bloody and I know he has to be miserable. Last summer they spent mega bucks that they didn't have taking him to the vet and they sold them some purple salve that was supposed to keep the flies off but he rubbed it off as soon as they put it on him. Does anybody know how to keep the flies from eating the poor dog alive?

 

[flutterbee]

My ex in-law's used to put vaseline on the dogs ears to keep the flies off. I don't know how well it worked, but it seemed to help some.

 

[DammitJanet]

Dont they sell some stuff at the agriculture stores for horses to keep flies off them? Might work on dogs too.

 

[mom_in_training]

Yes they do sell fly spray at feed stores. They even have products that are roll on that are very effective in controlling the flies and gentle on the skin. Another deterant if you can get away with it is to add a lil apple cider to the drinking water. The flies don't like apple cider.

 

[Hound dog]

Rowdy is our outside dog and every year the flies want to eat the poor guy's ears. Every year I keep his ears coated with Vaseline. It's cheap and the flies can't get to the tender flesh of the ears. I haven't found anything else that works as well.

If he already has sores, make sure you clean them with soap and water and peroxide once a day before applying a new coat of the Vaseline.

Speaking of which, I have to pick him up some while at the grocery tomorrow as the flies are starting in on him again. ugh

 

[Marguerite]

Vaseline is good. Also absolutely brilliant is a good insect repellent. Aussies live with flies and mozzies so I suspect we could be one of the word's highest per capita consumers of insect repellent.

We've used human stuff on dogs, just go carefully when spraying, to avoid the dog's eyes and nostrils.

If you vaseline the ears first, this will stop any stinging form the repellent spray.

A well-known Aussie brand is Aerogard - the classic ad in Australia is "Djavagooweegend?"
"Don't forget the Aerogard!"

Something else to consider is sunscreen, especially with pale-skinned animals. My parents' cat died of skin cancers that developed on his ears, even though they had them removed (the cancers, then the ears). Again, zinc cream is good. Some people tattoo the risky areas.

Or maybe skin cancer is less of a problem in your area?

Marg

 

[Star*]

Mutt -

Call a different vet. Our vet sold us some stuff for the blood s-ucking variety of flies that prey on dogs ear tips - and it was NOT expensive and it worked for a while 3-4 days before you had to apply more.

Also at most feed stores you can find FLY BAG traps - You need about 3 for a back yard - and you hang them up and flies go in and die - the entire thing is gross - but considering them biting my dog I'd put a paper sack over the bag.

Avon sells some stuff called skin so soft - that we used to use for flies on horses (not bots) but the biting ones and in the summer I always wiped it on the screen of the door to keep the flies away and on the screened awning when we went camping - flies HATE it and you dilute it so you save money.

You could mix some up in a bottle and spray it over his body - for comfort and then get the salve for blood skucking flies from the vet.

Poor baby - Maybe for $10+ you can get some hose sprayer attachment stuff and spray his area, bed, house etc.